My Current Whereabouts ;-)

So I really should be working on menus for the mock service in 48 hours...but I'll get there eventually. Its been awhile and after a truly shitty day I had an epically awesome day and wanted to share.

I'm in the midst of opening a new restaurant.  Its not mine by money, but it is by job title.  I'll be fair - I'm loving this. This is the part of what I do that I dig. There are parts of it that blow goats, and parts that are an adrenaline rush and parts that put me in a blind rage...and I LOVE it. I am constantly moving, I am organizing, overseeing, bossing around, training and dealing with it all.  And I am good at it. Very good at if I may say so myself, and I think if you asked anyone who has done it with me they would agree. I dont freak out, if I am unhappy you know why and exactly what must be done to fix it, its the only place in this world that I can juggle (i can barely walk & chew gum at the same time in real life) but there I can juggle a gazillion things.  Ask anyone who has ever been in charge of a restaurant opening...there is nothing like it. There are so many things that must be perfectly conducted with so many people the stress is unreal...but in my opinion healthy stress to a point in that its see a problem solve a problem stress. Either way I love it. So as miserable as I have been over the last year and as far behind as I am falling with the other 4 restaurants at the moment and the bullshit HR shit awaiting me at the end of this opening I love it now, and thats enough for me.

So about 2 weeks ago the boss handed me the reigns. It was my turn to do my thing. Hence I haven't been around a whole lot.  Through the course of every project there is the first month or so that is his. Its his job to get it built. He has to provide me a space...and I am very involved in the development of the space - it just do it via the walk into a meeting and say "yeah I dont like that, move it over there and give me one more fryer, that isnt enough burner space and that oven is ridiculous.  Get me this oven, add this over here and move that to that wall to make this flow better." along with gems like "thats hideous and there is no way we are using that fabric on booths" & "well I can understand why you would think that is a good idea but as the human responsible for making that happen i disagree and think we should....." and with an amazing designer he builds me a space.  About 3 weeks out he starts to back off and let me turn it into a restaurant.  He gets to keep playing with the contractors & builders, I have to get the staff, stuff & rest of it all together.  I handle everything but the bar menus.  And we are 48 hours from our first Mock service....KAPOW!!! We haz a restaurant!

And I'm excited. The Wizard let me go a direction with the menu that I didnt think he would.  Its not a complete departure from our menus, but it is definitely a departure.  I opened up the vegetarian & vegan options a lot which I think is great, I cut back the boring pizza menu & dressed it up, I took traditional yinzer salads & made them more yinzer-chic with some less traditional options and changed our more normal meat/starch/veg entrees for a more tapas style-small plate with the majority of it being chef driven and rotated out often with fresh, seasonal, local items.  The menu is markedly smaller than any of the other restaurants and tends toward a more foodie feel while still maintaining our core.   I couldnt believe he took the first draft and said great...fix some formatting issues for me and we are good. I was prepared to have to work for this drastic of a change; The Wizard is nothing if not stuck in his ways generally. But he liked it. And didnt make me do much tweaking to it at all. Stunned. Still. And the damn things are printing as I type. I think we are going to knock his socks off. And I cant fucking wait. He did the same thing with some of the smaller pieces of equipment. Whatever I wanted I was allowed to get. Granted I didnt take severe advantage...but I got a ton of really nice pots & pans and a few toys for the kitchen that make me happy. I almost wish this kitchen was mine. Almost.

We start our first service Friday at 2pm. We are having 4 invitation only mock-service seatings on Friday & Saturday, we are closed Sunday and open for business Monday at 11am. 98% of everything will be perfect (Frigging cable company is refusing to do the install until next week. Thanks Comcast...way to make it easy to do business) and we will be about 10 weeks from demolition to opening the doors. I am sure Ill take some pics, or have the Mister anyway, over the weekend.  The place is beautiful. It takes the best features of our last 2 stores and combines them in a beautiful space. With but 1 exception. And anyone who follows me on twitter knows about the fucking chairs. We are going to have a lounge area in the front and these hideous pink floral apolstered ugly ass chairs appeared there that are a part of this furniture grouping.  Im unhappy with just about every piece of furniture in that area.  There is this awesomely tacky 70s gold couch that is so awful its fabulous...but everything else is total garbage. I had my tantrum about it. I blatantly called it all ugly and just ridiculous. I plead my case. I got mad...I laughed at him. Didnt matter. I know when to stop, so I agreed on a compromise. We would revisit the area in 6 months. Hes afraid we are going to need it for additional tables, I disagree.  If it is going to stay a lounge we pick out some new pieces, if its needed as tables we get the tables. That was the only compromise I was going to get...so I took it. I apologize to everyone who has to look at this furniture...but it really wasnt my fault.

Ill prob post some pics after the dinners. I'm nervous...its always nerve racking for me to make a new menu and have to deal with the feedback. I've eaten it, I know if it is good or not...but its still trying on the self assurance those first few nights out of the gate. I think my KM is going to be a bundle of nerves, I think hes going to freak out a little...I can fix that. I think my GM & AGM are also going to loose it a bit, but they'll snap back, they both will just be reminded that what we are doing is the easy part...running restaurants is what we do, and I picked them to do it because they are good at it. All the getting ready shit is the hard part...and then they'll remember and we will trudge through the questions & confusion. Honestly cant wait...this is the pay off for all the work...seeing it all work the way it is supposed to.

Oh what a crazy trip the last month has been...but its almost here.

We also have one hell of a garden rolling at the moment....Im gonna have to remember to post some pics of that too. We haz a broccoli!!! And tomatoes, brussel sprouts, peppers, basil, lettuces, asparagus, garlic, shallots, potatoes, cauliflower, a bunch of herbs....its a very happy garden!

Hope you all have a great weekend...Ill be hollering myself hoarse & loving every minute of it I hope in a busy restaurant kitchen! Woot!!